


Spinal Tap

by RagtimeSpecter



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, F/F, Gen, I'm Sorry, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Killing Game Was A Virtual Reality Simulation (Dangan Ronpa), Sympathetic Tsumugi, kind of, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:22:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28180863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RagtimeSpecter/pseuds/RagtimeSpecter
Summary: "Do you think I'm evil, Yonaga-san?"(Tsumugi is regretting her decisions and Angie is desperately trying to defend her and Tsumugi just feels even more regret.)
Relationships: Shirogane Tsumugi/Yonaga Angie
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	Spinal Tap

**Author's Note:**

> Two posts in one day let’s go. There’s not enough Tsumugi, Angie, or Shironaga content here. This was also not proof read sorry, also this ends sad, I’m gonna try to write fluff about them soon though.

"Do you think I'm evil, Yonaga-san?"

Angie looked up from her sculpture, her brown hands smeared with gray clay that cracked and filled the cool air with the smell of pungent earth when she played with her fingers. Shirogane was staring into the flickering orange flame of a candle across the room. It just lit up her face enough for her to see her gray-ringed eyes past her glasses. 

A pout tugged at her face, and as soothingly as she could speak, she said, "Of course not, Tsumugi. Why would you think that?"

"I...I dunno," she mumbled. She moved away from the desk with the candle and waved her hands slowly around her, like she was summoning something. "I feel like I've done some things that aren't great, is all. Even if it was for what I thought were the right reasons, I just don't think anything can fully justify it all."

"...Why don't you come sit down, Tsumugi?" Angie tapped the chair across from her with her foot and Tsumugi stared at it for a moment, before stiffly sitting down. Angie kindly placed her hands together over the table. "You've heard that there's light in darkness and darkness in light, yes?"

"Of course," Tsumugi replied. Angie slowly reached out and took gentle hold of her hand, placing it on the table in her own. 

"Whatever you've done, it's not fully dark. If you did it for light, the sacrifice you made was the darkness in it, and if it was too dark to be called good, your good aspiration was light. You can never be fully pure, Tsumugi. It's not realistic."

"But I knew it would hurt people in the end. Even if the lasting impression isn't physical, everyone I've ever hurt will have to walk with that memory forever." She huffed through her nose. "I want to be better but I made this choice. I took away lives, I— I ruined lives, and all for the selfishness of purpose. And even if that purpose was greater than me, was in part to help with unity and inspiration, I...Angie I really messed up."

"You've hurt people, Tsumugi?"

Tsumugi was frozen over the ornate, covered sculpting table. Her hand was limp in Angie's. Angie brought it back to life with a firm, kind squeeze. 

"More than you know, Angie," Tsumugi murmured. Her face was crestfallen and the atmosphere of the room felt nearly as blue as her hair. 

"Tsumugi, it's not good, but it's not always horrible to take advantage of people," Angie finally replied. Tsumugi looked up with furrowed brows. "Sometimes, it's for the better. To teach lessons, or for the greater good, or to enact karma. I'm not proud of it, but I've done some wrongdoings on behalf of Atua. Whether I agree with them or not, it's my purpose to carry out their will. I'm not proud of it, but it was my job. And now I simply try to make the best of what I'm given, or atone for what I've done—"

"Angie, would you stop this game right now if you could?"

"...At almost any cost, yes."

"Say, you were the mastermind, or knew who they were. You could come forward and die but stop more deaths in the future. But you'd disappoint the masses and stop every good thing that could happen throughout the rest of this game. Would you turn them in?" 

Angie was, for once, quiet. No matter what she did, her mouth wouldn't move, and the sound wouldn't move from her throat. A voice greater than hers was whispering to her, telling her this was it. Her heart sank to her stomach. 

"What if this game wasn't real? But everything that happened here stuck with everyone when it was over? When they woke up?" Tsumugi squeezed her hand again. Her pulse beat against Angie's. "You're the head of the student council, Angie. Would you uphold your responsibility or would you play along if you knew? Is it worth ending? Is it not as bad as it seems? I think I can trust you with this, but if I can't, it was my own fault for starting my own downfall in more ways than you can imagine. If this story could end in hope for all at the price of despair, would you let it?"

"...I'm sorry, I don't think I can answer that."

Tsumugi's grip loosened. Her face was gaunt with licks of gray tiredness. "I know, I'm sorry. I guess it's a bit unnerving to hear, especially from someone so...plain."

"I don't think you're plain at all," Angie replied solemnly. Her eyes caught Tsumugi's and she felt her god flick her heartstrings in the wrongfully right direction. "Why don't you tell me a little more. What do you want from the game?"

"It's silly, but I just wonder if we're somehow being watched. And if all our despair drags out and gets worse, when it finally ends, it'll cause them so much hope. It's greater than us, I guess, is my idea. But maybe it would give them just as much hope to see it all end early. I dunno," Tsumugi scoffed.

"I mean, there's always someone watching," Angie added, "who else would keep us in check? They're simply watching the creations or monsters they've made learn autonomy and write their own stories. And every god feels regret, small or big, but they take accountability for their creations at the least, when it comes to hurt them.”

The guilt held her tongue down as it threatened to spill everything she meant to say. “But what if hurts me to see the people I love most hurt?” The implication was a phantom, stalking the room and almost touching Angie. She finally stood up. Her eyes brushed over the cover of the necronomicon near the table.

A wisp of smoke slithered across her face as the light died, and all Angie could see was the glare off of Tsumugi’s spectacles. The flecks of gray in her eyes were like tea leaves. In their mess, she could see an omen shaped like a skull. 

Tsumugi’s lips parted again, and a whisper slipped through the mesh of admiration between them. “Angie, I can’t let this hurt you, or anyone you care about anymore.”

“...Shirogane-san—”

“You can tell them. I trust you to end this. You’re the hope I couldn’t be.”

“No,” Angie flatted. She could feel the breath of Tsumugi’s movement. “Tsumugi, I can’t let anyone else die. I know how to fix this.”

“You need to, Angie, it’s the only way. It’s just me.”

“No more dying,” she repeated. She rose from her seat. “Shirogane-san, give me a moment. In fact, Atua thinks it’ll be safest for you to just leave for a bit. I’ll fix everything.” 

“But—” Tsumugi jumped when Angie’s hand wrapped around hers, warm and perfectly fit for her, like a mitten. Her cream-sweet voice and silken breath washed over her neck as she went on.

“You’ve done what you can, and you’ve realized what’s wrong. Now let me fix this.” Her arms rung around Tsumugi and held her tightly. Angie was plush and comforting, like a pillow. Her hold was firm and laced with care. The way her bangs brushed against her face reminded Tsumugi of butterfly kisses. 

She stepped back and Tsumugi heard the buckle of her satchel as she slipped it on and began clicking off to the door. The dim light of the hall seeped inside as it opened, and Angie’s light slipped out with one look back. 

“And if this doesn’t work, know that I love you no matter what you’ve done, Tsumugi.” A final smile lifted her face and she padded off. 

“...You too, Angie.”

Tsumugi felt hopelessness dripping down her throat, tightening it. The candle. The candle just couldn’t find its way out of the script. Her hand shook as she placed it on the book on its pedestal and her vision blurred when she looked at Rantaro’s waxen smile. 

She mumbled, “It never really ends, does it?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I love these two so much :0


End file.
